For Immediate Release

Five NASA rockets are scheduled to launch from Poker Flat Research Range this month. The launch window opens today, Jan. 10, at 10 p.m. AST, and runs until 4 a.m. AST, each night through Wednesday, Jan. 27. The five rockets will launch in two separate campaigns.

Marc Lessard is the principal investigator of the first campaign, dubbed ROPA, short for Rocket Observation for Pulsating Aurora that will send a large Black Brant XII sounding rocket through pulsating aurora north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have collaborated with students from Toyama Prefectural University and Tokai University in Japan to prepare a rocket that successfully launched from Poker Flat Research Range Monday afternoon at 12:06 p.m.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Eleven rockets are scheduled for launch from Poker Flat Research Range this winter, with projects ranging from four rockets launched in rapid succession to measure wind in the upper atmosphere in January to an internationally collaborative student rocket launch in March.

For Immediate Release

FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Electrical engineer Denise Thorsen has been selected as director-elect of the Alaska Space Grant Program.

Thorsen says she plans to expand the statewide space-education program to reach more students across the state. Her vision is to promote the existing Space Grant programs, while laying a foundation for further growth. Such plans could bolster interest in aerospace-related industries that may bring economic development to Alaska.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The winds that swirl above the planet’s seas are packed with information. Scientists across the globe are using this wind information in studies as diverse as global weather patterns and seafood harvesting. Currently, information on sea winds is downlinked in the Interior at the Alaska Satellite Facility, a part of the Geophysical Institute. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ned Rozell, GI information officer, 907-474-7468, nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu

Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska—Scientists launched a NASA sounding rocket at 11:11 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 in an attempt to learn more about the concentration of nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere from a rocket that arced about 160 miles above northern Alaska.

CONTACT: Ned Rozell, GI science writer, 907-474-7468, nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu

Fairbanks, Alaska—A NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range and flew to an altitude of more than 100 vertical miles at 12:01 a.m. Alaska Standard Time on Feb. 9, 2010. The rocket released 12 vials of trimethyl-aluminum that glowed in colors from orange to blue about 70 miles above northern Alaska.

CONTACT: Ned Rozell, GI information officer, 907-474-7468, nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu

Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska—Scientists launched a NASA sounding rocket at 1:49 a.m. on the morning of Friday, January 28, 2011, achieving their goal of gathering an image of the Whirlpool Galaxy from a rocket that arced about 150 miles above northern Alaska.

CONTACT: Ned Rozell, GI information officer, 907-474-7468, nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu)

Fairbanks, Alaska—Scientists at Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks are preparing to launch two NASA sounding rockets for two experiments. The launch window for both experiments opens on Jan. 26 and extends until Feb. 15.

By Brian Keenan

UAF Geophysical Institute Outreach Office

Fairbanks, Alaska — The days of watching a space shuttle launch into the Florida sky may be numbered, but thanks to funding from the Alaska Space Grant Program, a fortunate few education professionals from Alaska have at least been able to witness the end of the era firsthand.